Mount Molloy was named to honour teamster Patrick Molloy who, in the mid 1880s, found the copper outcrop whilst searching for stray bullocks. Four years he worked it as a one man show, then amid murmurs of “claim jumping”, it changed hands. In 1901 the Irvinebank Company purchased the leases and by 1903, Mount Molloy was one of North Queensland’s leading producers. However, by Christmas of 1908 production ceased due to a lack of ore.
Mount Molloy too, has its share of ghosts. James Venture Mulligan, discoverer of gold on the Palmer River and on the Hodgkinson field, silver at Silver Valley and tin in several locations, at age 70, embroiled himself in a fight during the construction of the Mount Molloy-Biboohra tramway, received an unlucky blow and died. The Irish explorer’s body rests in the Mount Molloy cemetery (GK Bolton).
Today, Mount Molloy’s fame is with its bird life. Almost 300 species have been recorded within a 15 kilometre radius of the town. It is also the home of the Great Bowerbird.